Welding



a y i '-44' July 5K, 1932. A. KREBsy l Q 1,356,044

` WELDING 'med oct, 15, 192'.' 2 sheets-sheet 1 9 the gas ame. y

`A further object of my invention is to im,

Y Patented Jui, 5.1932

UNITED s'm'ri-:s PATENT OFFICE xmms, or .marsica runt,

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the heat satis actorly, has not been capa le of producing as intense heat concentration as is desirable for fast weldingil- One obt of in invention is to obtain 'gher wel g spee s by means .10 of greater heat concentration. I do this by introducing into the ath of the gas flame an electric arc. e I refer to su ply this llame with hydrogen, do not wis to confine myself to thisas a mixture of u oxygen and a combusti le gas' may be used provided themixture is such as to still act as a reducin and not as an oxidizing medium. The eat concentration or intensity 1 is also improved by the arrangement I give prove the quali of the welds by distributing the heat deriv from the arc in accordance with the ideal heat distribution of ther gas u ame. That is, the gas ame tends to dilute the intense and excessive heat concentration of the arc and also to increase the lieat-con centi-ation where not excessive by directing the burnin hydrogen toward the work.

3 Another ob]ect of my invention is to stabilize' the electric arc by providing a' hot conductive ath in the ame which path retains -a arge roportion of its conductivity irrespectiveo the current and heating of the arc it- 35 self. Another object of my invention is to eliminate or at least the poor welds -diie to oxygen and nitrogen compounds which commonly occur in the presence of an electric arc..

With these and other objects in view lthe Vinvention comprises the v various features hereinafter more fully described and particularly dened in the claims. l v

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 is a-front elevation of one embodiment of my invention with the upper portion of the electrode broken away;

ture

n gas. Heretofore such ap a. -I ratus, while distributin 2 is a side elevation of-the same struc-1v Fig. 3 isa sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; l

ig. 4 is a front elevation of another embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional side Ielevation on line u 5-5 of Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5. f l

Referring to the particularleibodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 3, two 00 gas nozzles 11 and 12 are set at an 4angle to each other so that solid streams of gas 13 and. 14, of high velocity and intensity, im-

inge on each other and form a resultant aine 15 directed alon the bisector of the angle between streams o gas 13 and 14. This resultant flame 15 moves at a slower velocity than its neratin streaius of gas 13 and 14 and also as a hig er heatv intensity. It will vbe noted that the resultant llame 15 is thin 7- in one dimension (Fi .'1) and relatively' broad and heart shape in the other dimension (Fig. 2

The no'zz es 11 and 12 are suapported by the frame 16 in any of the sever wa we l "V5 known in the art and need not be rther described herein. I preferabl usevhydrogen for supplying these nozzes but other suitable maybe used in lieu thereof, preferab y a gas having a h drogen component (or a component yiel ydrogen in the ame) which ma be ioni by the arc.

' Supported by the rame 16 is a flexible tubing 17 ending in sleeve 18 thro h which feed wire 19 is automatically fed. efeed .l wire 19 provides one terminal of an electric arc and the workpiece 20 the other terminal. The welding wire 19 .is fed in automatically so as to keep the arc at a lfixed distance from the workpiece 20. The frame 16 is preferably 0 mounted on one or more rollers 21 lfor easy movement. As shown the lane of the nozzles 11 and 12 is incli t@ the feed wire 19. Of course, .any other convenient relative portion can be selected includ that in u which-the feed wire 19 and gas n es 11-12 all lie in the same plane.

15 ismfuch hotter In operation th flame than'its era' `ames13 and 14an`dis also moving at a ower so that there l.

is less tendency to blow away the hot metal of the weld. While this flame is readily d1- rected on the work and fairly well confined to a limited area, it nevertheless lacks the degree of heat concentration obtainable with the electric arc. The use of the electric arc passing from the electrode 19 through the flame 15 to the workpiece 20 will increase the heat concentration. If the electric arc isused alone, there are several undesirable results. The arc spot where it strikes the work 1s so intensely hot that it causes the metal to boil and results in blowr holes. Also the air reaches the hot metal so readily that compounds ofoxygen and nitrogen are formed, thus seriously impairing the quallty of the weld. But 1n my invention the resultant flame and its stream of hydrogen surrounds the feed wire, the arc, and the correspondlng area of the workpiece so as to shut off the surrounding air with its detrimental effects.

This stream or flame system therefore not only envelops the heat zone, but also produces a pronounced direction of the heat against the workpiece. It also forces part of the hydrogen to cross the arc and be partly transformed into atomic hydrogen burning with a temperature higher than the arc heat or any other commercially known heat.

There is ver little hydrogen burning far from the wor iece, absorbing and carrying off heat; in s ort, instead of a heat-absorbing application of arc and hydrogen heat, this invention affords a forcibly concentrated and forcibly directed heat against the workpiece.

In Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is shown another embodiment of my invention in which 23 and 24 are two gas nozzles producing ames 25 and 26 which impinge on each other and produce flame 27. The tubes suppl 'ng these nozzles are joined together at 28 an depending therefrom is a support 29 to which are attached the arms 30 and 31 at the ends of which are electrode holders 32 and 33. These carry the electrodes 34 and 35, preferably of tungsten,

outside of both gas nozzles. vThe arc passes between the ends of Ithese two electrodes through the gas flame 27. The flame 27 is directed against workpiece 36.

In operation the third iiame 27 is hotter and has a lower velocity than its generating iames 25 and 26. This heat is increased somewhat by the direct heat of the electric arc. It is also increased still more by the indirect action of the arc. The hydrogen gas in passing throughthe electric arc is changed from molecular hydrogen to atomic hydrogen and then burns below the arc under conditions of very intense heat concentration.

This stream system offers the arc a large area of attack and produces a convenient density of the gas for transforming a major portion of the molecular hydrogen into atomic hydrogen, and also directs its flow forcibly against the corresponding point oi the workplece. The result is a materially 1ncreased output of atomic hydrogen coupled with utmost heat concentration and heat intensity, as well as forcible direction of this heat against the area to be fused. Another advantage of this arrangement is the powerful reducing action of the atomic hydrogen which makes it possible to weld materlals which oxidize so readily that it would ordinuily be considered an impossibility to weld t em.

Instead of usin pure oxygen, other suitable gas mixture o? a reducing character, such as Oxy-hydrogen or Oxy-acetylene, may be used as lames, as neutral ames of these mixures have also a highly reducing character which protects the enveloped heat zone from the detrimental effect of the surrounding air.

I claim:

l. A method of producing a high temperature welding flame which comprises impinging one high velocity stream of gas against another and forming abroad relatively thin resultant flame directed toward the work and passing an electric arc through a broad dimension of said flame.

2. A method of producing a high temperature welding flame which comprises impinging one high velocity stream of gas against another, at least one of said streams of as having a hydrogen component, and forming a broad relatively thin resultant flame d1- rected toward the work, and passing an electric arc through a broad dimension of said flame to convert molecular hydrogen into verge into a relatively thm resultant work-4 ing liame, and means including an electrode for producing an electric arc transversely through said resultant iame, said electrode being disposed substantially in the plane of the resulting iam'e and adjacent the point of conveirgence of' said streams of gas.

4. elding a paratus comprising two gas nozzles incline relatively to each other to cause streams of gas to meet at an angle and to merge into a resultant working flame directed along the bisector of said angle, and means including an electrode for producing an electric arc through the broad dimension of said resultant flame, said electrode being disposed adjacent to the point of conver ence of said gas streams and in a plane sugstantially at right angles to that defined byA ward the work piece, and passin an electric arc through a broad dimension o said flame. 6. Apparatus of the character described comprising two gas nozzles dis osed in the v5 same plane and inclined towar each other to cause relatively high velocity gas` streams issuing therefrom to converge mto a thin resultant working flame of relatively lower velocity, and means for passing an electric 1 arc through a broad dimension of said resultant flame, said means comprising an electrode disposed in a planev substantially at ri ht angles to the plane of said nozzles and a jacent to the point of convergence of said 15 gas streams.

Signed by me at Boston,-Massachusetts, this 13th day of October, 1927.v

ADOLF KREBS. 

